When I Was a Child, My Mother Wobbled into My Bedroom

I’ve never forgotten the sound of ice cubes clinking in her glass of Scotch. I’ve never forgotten how she put the glass down and put her hands around my throat and shook me.

How could she have been afraid, that tall woman? How could she have been powerless? It’s taken me years to see she was powerless.

This is the only reason forgiveness is possible. I’m not good at it. But I know about it; I can write about it. What’s the difference between barbed wire and a bird? I’ve seen a sparrow land on a sharp knot and sing.